NEW YORK, August 16, 2005—Assurant, Inc. ("Assurant") (NYSE: AIZ), a premier provider of specialty insurance and insurance-related products and services, today announced that it has elected Charles John "Bud" Koch, 59, to its board of directors. Mr. Koch will also serve on the board's compensation committee.
"We are very pleased to welcome Bud to the Assurant board," said J. Kerry Clayton, Assurant's chief executive officer. "The addition of this highly accomplished executive further strengthens our board and reflects Assurant's commitment to sound corporate governance. I am confident that his insight and contributions will help us further advance our diversified specialty insurance strategy."
Charles John "Bud" Koch is former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Charter One Financial, Inc., (NYSE: CF), one of the 25 largest bank holding companies in the United States. Mr. Koch joined Charter One in 1976 as vice president and secretary and was elected president and chief operating officer in 1980. He was elected president and chief executive officer in 1988 and chairman in 1995. Between 1988 and 2004, Charter One Financial increased assets from $1.5 billion to $45 billion. The company was acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland in 2004. Prior to joining Charter One Financial, Mr. Koch held a range of sales and management positions at both Westinghouse Corporation and Carborundum Corporation. Mr. Koch is currently chairman of the board of both The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati and John Carroll University. He is also a member of the board of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Case Western Reserve University.
Mr. Koch earned his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University and his M.B.A from Loyola College in Baltimore. He currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio.
In addition to Mr. Koch, other members of Assurant's Board as of August 16, 2005 are Dr. John Michael Palms, chairman of Assurant and a Distinguished University Professor and former president of the University of South Carolina; Michel Baise, chief financial officer, Fortis MilleniumBCP Insurance Group; Dr. Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D., professor of Health Policy at Harvard University's School of Public Health and professor of Political Analysis at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government; Beth L. Bronner, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Jim Beam Brands; Howard L. Carver, retired office managing partner of Ernst & Young; J. Kerry Clayton, chief executive officer of Assurant; Allen R. Freedman, owner and principal of A.R. Freedman & Co., a corporate strategy development firm and former chairman and chief executive officer of Fortis, Inc.; H. Carroll Mackin, former executive vice president and treasurer of Fortis, Inc. and current principal owner of Great Northern Manufacturing, LLC; and Michele Coleman Mayes, senior vice president and general counsel, Pitney Bowes.
Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected other markets. Its five key businesses -- Assurant Employee Benefits; Assurant Health; Assurant Preneed; Assurant Solutions and Assurant Specialty Property -- have partnered with clients who are leaders in their industries and have built leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments in the U.S. and selected international markets.
Assurant, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ, has over $20 billion in assets and $7 billion in annual revenue. www.assurant.com
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